Pinnacle Dining - Extra Charges for Appetizers and Entrees - Isn't the upscale the reason you purchased the Pinnacle Dining?

[Laminator]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

DH and I both had a wonderful Farm Fresh Field Greens salad topped with Grilled Salmon at Longhorn the other night.  Too much to finish!  I cook a mean salmon at home, and DH and I both agreed that this salmon was right up there with mine!  $15.  I could not have purchased all of the ingredients at the grocery at that price. We were also served a loaf of fresh whole wheat bread to boot, and the waiter said that we could order an extra to take home.  We declined.  The service was excellent!!!  Young man in college.

And that is exactly the reason I will eat at Longhorn before I will eat at the Pinnacle. I will bet my last dollar that at the Longhorn you see people dressed in shorts, ripped jeans and t-shirts when the weather is warm. 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Laminator

[paulco]

Just love any one who serves me dinner!  Did mdr on rci, carnival and princess last year,and found them comparable.  Would love to do HAL this year!

[albingirl]

Reading all these posts about the Pinnacle Grill has made me lose my appetite. No matter how you slice it, it's still a good deal with your HIA package.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Iamthesea]

2 hours ago, Laminator said:

And that is exactly the reason I will eat at Longhorn before I will eat at the Pinnacle. I will bet my last dollar that at the Longhorn you see people dressed in shorts, ripped jeans and t-shirts when the weather is warm. 

Not sure about when the weather is warmer, or why it would matter, but we saw no one dressing badly.  

[ChinaShrek]

4 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

 This word supply chain & shortages is used for control just like what has been associated with covid .In reality there is no supply chain shortages just man made . The truth is hidden from the mass populations .Thus ,there really is no supply chain shortages for cruise lines either.  imvho

I don't even know what this means.

[QM2 Cruiser]

The $7 salad situation is the reason I didn't make reservations at the Pinnacle for my upcoming Rotterdam cruise. I've been eating both soup and salad there for years, and out of principle I would rather forego the experience altogether going forward. I absolutely agree to charging extra for multiple main courses; I thought that was the case to begin with. But to charge me $7 for some lettuce after my appetizer, forget it. I'll eat in Rudi's and Tamarind where I don't feel punished for paying to dine in a specialty restaurant. They need to move to a la carte pricing for me to return; then I will gladly pay for every course I order.

Edited March 5, 2023 by QM2 Cruiser

[jaywoods678]

On 3/3/2023 at 9:04 AM, Bruinboy said:

Yeah, but buried in past posts. I agree with OP. 

 

I agree also.

[Crew News]

I just downloaded the PG menu for my two May cruises (Volendam & Nieuw Amsterdam) and noted that the $7 surcharge was not there. 

[Hlitner]

48 minutes ago, Crew News said:

I just downloaded the PG menu for my two May cruises (Volendam & Nieuw Amsterdam) and noted that the $7 surcharge was not there. 

All the extra supplements are listed on the current menu on the Navigator app.  The web site is seldom up to date.  If one were to order a soup, salad, and 12 oz lobster tail they would pay $39 + $7 + $20 + 18% or $77.88,  Toss in caviar and dinner would be 136.88!  Bon appetit.

[Laminator]

36 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

All the extra supplements are listed on the current menu on the Navigator app.  The web site is seldom up to date.  If one were to order a soup, salad, and 12 oz lobster tail they would pay $39 + $7 + $20 + 18% or $77.88,  Toss in caviar and dinner would be 136.88!  Bon appetit.

Do the mariner discounts apply to any of the add ons? I have no clue. I will not eat in the Pinnacle.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Do the mariner discounts apply to any of the add ons? I have no clue. I will not eat in the Pinnacle.

They used to.  I was told no on the koningsdam and also phoned the mariners society.  I'm speaking more about tamarind and Caneletto because I haven't been to the pinnacle since they decided to charge for a second app.

[AtleeH]

2 hours ago, Crew News said:

I just downloaded the PG menu for my two May cruises (Volendam & Nieuw Amsterdam) and noted that the $7 surcharge was not there. 

 

How do you down load a menu? Do you have to be on the ship already?

[Crew News]

11 minutes ago, AtleeH said:

 

How do you down load a menu? Do you have to be on the ship already?

Don't need to be on the ship.  If you have a booked cruise, you can download from the HAL website or Navigator app from that booking.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Crew News

[LocoLoco1]

As a long-time HAL fan I see recent Corporate $$ needs are clashing with our previous onboard experiences. A barebones 30/day cruise is still a bargain, but upcharges will be substantial going forward. I’ll miss free hot hor d’oeuvres, Caviar, lobster & cashews.  So be it, I guess. 

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

As a long-time HAL fan I see recent Corporate $$ needs are clashing with our previous onboard experiences. A barebones 30/day cruise is still a bargain, but upcharges will be substantial going forward. I’ll miss free hot hor d’oeuvres, Caviar, lobster & cashews.  So be it, I guess. 

A bargain? If you wait until the last minute and take an inside room.  I would think a small percentage could do that.

[Hlitner]

4 hours ago, Laminator said:

Do the mariner discounts apply to any of the add ons? I have no clue. I will not eat in the Pinnacle.

We have no clue to the current policy.  And if we knew the policy today on one ship it is likely to be a different policy tomorrow on a different ship.  And next week?  Who knows.  If anyone had told me, a few months ago, that we would have to pay $8.26 cents extra to order bisque and a salad in the Pinnacle, I would have told them they were nutz.  I cannot help but think that the surcharge for a salad (and an appetizer) is going to get HAL a lot more bad will than can be justified by the small upcharge.

 

A few years ago we used to regularly cruise on Celebrity in the Aqua Class.  One small perk in Aqua Class was that you would get all the bottled water you pleased.  One day, we asked our steward for a couple of bottles and he said that the policy had just changed to only 2 free bottles per cruise!  That was the last time we cruised on Celebrity (over 5 years ago).  The bottled water issue meant little since we had a Premium drink package and could get all the water we wanted at any bar.  We spent the rest of that cruise using Pelligrino to brush our teeth :).  Since that time, Celebrity has probably lost over $50,000 or our bookings over that silly water policy.  Sometimes it is the principle that causes a very small issue to make a big difference.

 

We may pay some surcharges on our upcoming Westy cruise.  On the other hand, we do not have more future HAL bookings.  I understand that HAL could care less about a couple of 5* Mariners, but they should be concerned if the feeling is mutual.

 

Hank

 

Hank

[Florida_gal_50]

23 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have no clue to the current policy.  And if we knew the policy today on one ship it is likely to be a different policy tomorrow on a different ship.  And next week?  Who knows.  If anyone had told me, a few months ago, that we would have to pay $8.26 cents extra to order bisque and a salad in the Pinnacle, I would have told them they were nutz.  I cannot help but think that the surcharge for a salad (and an appetizer) is going to get HAL a lot more bad will than can be justified by the small upcharge.

 

A few years ago we used to regularly cruise on Celebrity in the Aqua Class.  One small perk in Aqua Class was that you would get all the bottled water you pleased.  One day, we asked our steward for a couple of bottles and he said that the policy had just changed to only 2 free bottles per cruise!  That was the last time we cruised on Celebrity (over 5 years ago).  The bottled water issue meant little since we had a Premium drink package and could get all the water we wanted at any bar.  We spent the rest of that cruise using Pelligrino to brush our teeth :).  Since that time, Celebrity has probably lost over $50,000 or our bookings over that silly water policy.  Sometimes it is the principle that causes a very small issue to make a big difference.

 

We may pay some surcharges on our upcoming Westy cruise.  On the other hand, we do not have more future HAL bookings.  I understand that HAL could care less about a couple of 5* Mariners, but they should be concerned if the feeling is mutual.

 

Hank

 

Hank

Yup, penny wise and pound foolish.  

[PACD_JG]

HAL's Pinnacle Grill policy is the marital equivalent of making your fiancé(e) sign a prenup.  Or the sports equivalent of franchising your quarterback instead of offering him a long-term contract.  In other words...the optics absolutely suck, and nobody ends up happy. 

[LocoLoco1]

14 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yup, penny wise and pound foolish.  

I somewhat agree. This all leaves me wondering about corporate needs vs guest preferences. IF operating a vessel (on ALL the cruiselines) at a slim profit requires cutbacks of ‘pennies’ at the dinner table then we best get used to it methinks. We’ve seen this with airlines and their disappearing meals so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

[AtleeH]

On 3/6/2023 at 3:07 PM, Crew News said:

Don't need to be on the ship.  If you have a booked cruise, you can download from the HAL website or Navigator app from that booking.

I'm booked for a cruise that leaving in less than 2 weeks, however I haven't been able to down load any menus.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, AtleeH said:

I'm booked for a cruise that leaving in less than 2 weeks, however I haven't been able to down load any menus.

Do you have the Navigator app?  Scroll down a teeny bit until you see the row labeled "Dining" and than slide across to the Pinnacle Grill.  Click on that Pinnacle Grill and scroll down until "Menus" where they have both the Lunch and Dinner menus.

 

Hank

[AtleeH]

I have the app.  I'll give it another try.  Thanks.

[dogo88]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Do you have the Navigator app?  Scroll down a teeny bit until you see the row labeled "Dining" and than slide across to the Pinnacle Grill.  Click on that Pinnacle Grill and scroll down until "Menus" where they have both the Lunch and Dinner menus.

 

Hank

Navigator is a work in progress. For our Oct cruise I spent days at home trying to get it to work correctly. Could never get the app to show my boarding pass. Then magically on embarkation day it worked.

We are on the 3/18 cruise too and I just tried to again. No Bueno. 

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, dogo88 said:

Navigator is a work in progress. For our Oct cruise I spent days at home trying to get it to work correctly. Could never get the app to show my boarding pass. Then magically on embarkation day it worked.

We are on the 3/18 cruise too and I just tried to again. No Bueno. 

Have not even tried to get a boarding pass on the app since we do not embark until 3/27.  But the info on the Pinnacle (and other dining venues) functions quite well.

[PalmSprings]

FWIW, I thought the lunches on sea days in Pinnacle were awesome on NS in November.  It’s only 15 bucks, and I’m pretty sure that you can still get multiple appetizers without a surcharge at lunch (we ate in there every sea day on our cruise, I think).  The tenderloin with blue cheese was so good, I had it at all three of the lunches we ate in there.  It’s not the same experience as the dinner presentation, but for dinner, I far prefer Rudi’s or Tamarind, anyway.